Specialty Degree Research Articles

Leaders in ethics education

Prof. Berna Arda, is a graduate of Ankara University Faculty of Medicine 1987, has medical specialty and PhD degrees in History of Medicine and Ethics and, teaches at the Department of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine in Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey. Her main research and publication fields are science ethics, human rights, woman and bioethics, medical law, ethics education and disease concept in history of medicine. She was a visiting scientist at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, between February - July 2015 and a guest professor at the University College of London, History of Medicine Center, between January and June 2008. She is the founder chairperson of Turkish Bioethics Society (1994 - 2001), Member of High Disciplinary Committee of Turkish Medical Association (2008 - 2012). Governor (2006- ), Vice President (2010 - 2018 ) and Executive Committee member (2018-2020) of World Association for Medical Law, one of the founders and the first president of International Association for Education in Ethics (2012 - 2016).

Editorial introductions

Current Opinion in Allergy and Clinical Immunology was launched in 2001. It is one of a successful series of review journals whose unique format is designed to provide a systematic and critical assessment of the literature as presented in the many primary journals. The fields of allergy and clinical immunology are divided into 14 sections that are reviewed once a year. Each section is assigned a Section Editor, a leading authority in the area, who identifies the most important topics at that time. Here we are pleased to introduce the Journal's Section Editors for this issue. SECTION EDITORS Stephen JollesStephen JollesDr Jolles is a Consultant Clinical Immunologist and Honorary Professor at the University Hospital of Wales, UK. He is Clinical Lead in the Immunodeficiency Centre of Wales and Co-Director of the Hub Immunology Diagnostic Laboratory of Wales. Dr Jolles trained in immunology and allergy, and obtained his PhD on Langerhans cell migration at the National Institute for Medical Research, London. He has a particular interest in the clinical use of immunoglobulin and its mechanism of action and research interests include development of new therapeutic products, new screening strategies to improve the laboratory diagnosis of primary and secondary immunodeficiency and allergy, and better ways to monitor primary immunodeficiency disease and the impact of treatments. M. Teresa (Maite) de la MorenaM. Teresa (Maite) de la MorenaM. Teresa (Maite) de la Morena is Professor of Pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Immunology at University of Washington and Seattle Children's Hospital, USA. She graduated from medical school at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. This was followed by residency and fellowships training in pediatrics, allergy and immunology, and laboratory immunology at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA. Dr de La Morena has a clinical interest in allergy and immunology, clinical immunology with particular focus on the primary immunodeficiency diseases. Her research interests include long term clinical outcomes of patients with X-linked Hyper IgM syndrome, DiGeorge syndrome and microRNAs in primary immunodeficiency disorders, including their role in thymic development. Giovanni PassalacquaGiovanni PassalacquaProf. Giovanni Passalacqua was born in Genoa in 1964, graduated in 1990 from the Genoa University Medical School, Italy, and was appointed by the specialty degrees in Allergy and Clinical Immunology and Respiratory Medicine in 1994 and 2002. He is the Co-Chairman of the Immunotherapy Scientific Committee of the WAO and member of the ARIA editorial board. Prof. Passalacqua serves as a section editor for Current Opinion in Allergy and Clinical Immunology, and also as a reviewer for Allergy, JACI, Clin Exp Allergy and ERJ. Prof. Passalacqua is the co-author of several international position papers, including ARIA guidelines, WAO Pos pap on SLIT, EAACI Pos Pap on local immunotherapy. His main fields of research are sublingual immunotherapy, mechanisms of allergic inflammation, antihistamines, corticosteroids, respiratory allergy, hymenoptera venom allergy. Under the chairmanship of Professor Canonica, he developed and investigated sublingual immunotherapy in the last 20 years. He has had 450 full articles published in peer reviewed journals indexed in MedLine plus 15 chapters in international handbooks. He currently heads the Allergy and Respiratory Diseases Department, and chairs the Specialty School in Respiratory Diseases, University of Genoa, Italy. Robert BushRobert BushDr Robert Bush received his MD degree from West Virginia University, USA. After completing his residency in internal medicine and fellowship in allergy and immunology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, USA, he joined the faculty. He is currently Professor (Emeritus) of Medicine and was the former Chief of Allergy at the William S Middleton VA Hospital, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. His research interests include sublingual immunotherapy, allergen characterization, fungal allergy, food allergy, and occupational asthma.

United States Air Force Physician Assistant Postgraduate Specialty Training Factors: A Brief Survey.

The purpose of this study was to determine USAF physician assistants' (PAs') concerns regarding postgraduate education and training. This was a single-mode, observational, cross-sectional study using an anonymous-structured survey involving a population of 420 active duty USAF PAs. Potential participants were contacted by email and asked to take a one-time survey via a secure survey site link. One hundred ten USAF PAs participated in the survey seeking their opinions on factors affecting applying for military postgraduate specialty training. The prime factors identified fell into 3 major groups of concern: types of degrees offered, current job satisfaction, and types of specialty training available. The most desired degree and specialty options were the doctorate of science and emergency medicine. Only a small number of respondents (6%) expressed current job satisfaction and the desire to remain in family medicine. This study revealed important information to senior leaders who fund, recruit, train, and maintain force-readiness requirements. The 3 identified main priorities of respondents were the types of degrees, current level of job satisfaction, and the types of specialty training. The vast majority of those surveyed preferred the doctorate, which is what all of the specialty degrees in the Air Force are, except for ENT.

REFORMING LEGAL EDUCATION IN UKRAINE: REALITIES AND PERSPECTIVES

During the last years Ukraine is in the state of permanent reformation of all the key spheres of society and state. This process of reformation concerns as well higher education; however, the main attention in this process is paid to reforming the legal education, which eventually remains the main object of changes. The substantial reformation of legal education was started by order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of January 27, 2016, No. 121-p «On conducting in 2016 as an experiment the entrance examinations during admission to studying for a Master of Laws Degree on the basis of Bachelor`s Degree in specialty 081«Law», with application of the organizational and technological processes of external independent evaluation». One cannot omit to mention the law in draft «On juridical (legal) education and the general access to legal profession», registered in Supreme Council on September 28, 2017. It is reasonable that one of the questions that have been raised while discussing this draft law in social networks was the question of social need for such law. After all, legal education is provided on the same basic principles as the other types of higher education. The peculiar features characteristic of it (there are not so many of them) can be properly regulated by by-laws. Otherwise, sooner or later, the question, concerning the legal regulation at the level of the law as well of the other types of educational activity in the other branches of education, will arise. The draft law provides some radical innovations that are ambiguously perceived by the legal community. First of all, there is a negative perception of introducing the overall Master's program for future lawyers. In the current conditions of legal education functioning, when the provisions of the Bologna Convention are implemented, the multi-degree principle of obtaining education creates the conditions for academic mobility of students, including the international exchanges for higher education. The draft law shows explicit hyperbolizing of both foreign experience and knowledge of foreign language during the conduct of educational activities. In particular, it is proposed to deliver at least two academic disciplines in one of the official languages of the Council of Europe. A logical question arises – what is the sense of delivering in foreign language the disciplines based on national legislation? When it goes about the need to study a foreign language, then it is obvious that this problem needs to be solved in another way. As well the requirement for educational institutions that at least one of the scientific and pedagogical workers shall have a Doctor of Laws Degree, obtained abroad, is unclear. One of the cornerstones of the proposed reform is the passing of a single state qualification exam by all graduates of the law schools. The draft law foresees that it is after the successful passing the respective exam graduate can obtain Master of Laws diploma of state sample. I think that after such innovation the value of obtaining legal education in classical universities with many years of traditions will be lost forever. The applicant will be oriented to obtaining the necessary quantity of credits in the easiest way, and for those students, who study for payment, as well in the cheapest way. After all, the status of the university, its long history, the existence of law schools, which were formed over decades, will not matter, since the main priority is to pass a single state exam. It is obvious that education should be permanently changed to some extent, as far as this sphere of society shall as quickly as possible react to changes in society itself. At the same time I should like to express hope that stability will finally prevail in the educational sphere, as one of the guarantees of ensuring the own national, but not the borrowed academic traditions.

Pediatric Dentistry in Primary Healthcare: Creation, Development, and Evaluation of a Distance Education Course.

Oral health in childhood is a major problem for global public health. In Brazil, the prevalence of childhood tooth decay varies from 12% to 46%. Dental care treatment in Brazil is almost the exclusive responsibility of primary healthcare (PHC). Therefore, it is essential these professionals are prepared to conduct restorative, endodontic, and exodontic treatments and preventive care in children. Children make up a large proportion of the population in territories requiring advanced dental care provided by PHC in Brazil. To care for these patients, it is necessary to have both manual dexterity and technical knowledge of pediatric dentistry. Accordingly, this study aimed to develop a distance course on pediatric dentistry. A pretest questionnaire consisting of 15 questions was used to assess initial dental knowledge of participants. After completion of a five-module course, participants retook the same initial dental knowledge questionnaire (post-test). Descriptive statistic and paired t test, one-way analysis of variance, and Pearson and Spearman correlation were used, and a significance level of 5% was set. The majority of participants completing the five-module course were women who earned specialty degrees beyond undergraduate studies and currently worked in PHC (>5 years). Participant performance on the dental knowledge questionnaire after completion of the five-module course improved pre- to post-test. These data suggest that completion of a distance course on pediatric dentistry can be an effective tool for improving knowledge of pediatric dentistry in PHC professionals.

Multidisciplinary oral rehabilitation in partially edentulous adult patients with malocclusion: A cross-sectional survey study.

BackgroundA cross-sectional survey was conducted to gather information regarding the opinion of Brazilian specialists in both orthodontics and implantology on multidisciplinary oral rehabilitation in partially edentulous patients with malocclusion.Material and MethodsA total of 305 specialists participated in a telephone survey and answered an ad hoc 10-item questionnaire, including the request of total skull cone-beam tomographies (CBCT) and the use of 3D digital planning software, the best moment of treatment to place dental implants, and the integration of orthodontics in implantology.ResultsMost participants did not request CBCT (90.8%) or 3D digital planning software images (92.3%) to diagnose and plan multidisciplinary oral rehabilitation. By contrast, 91.1% of participants would use an already dental implant as anchorage for orthodontics, 73.8% had already used implants for this purpose, 47.9% selected 4 months as the waiting time between implant placement and its use as anchorage, and 58.4% had already placed dental implants having in mind using them as anchorage for orthodontics and anticipating the oral rehabilitation process. Moreover, 93.4% of participants stated to avoid applying orthodontic forces in implants with unfavourable prognosis. A total of 67.9% of participants got the degree of specialist in Orthodontics before that of specialist in Implantology. The main reason for obtaining the other specialty degree was to be able to thoroughly exercise the two specialties.Conclusions The use of technological advances, such as CBCT and 3D digital planning software was limited. Most dental specialists would wait the osseointegration recommended time before applying orthodontic forces and thus using them as anchorage for orthodontics. The majority of interviewed dentists sought the other specialty to acquire multidisciplinary knowledge. Key words:Cross-sectional study, orthodontics, implantology, partially edentulous, malocclusion, oral rehabilitation.

Exploration of neurology training in clinical professional degree postgraduate and standardized residents training

In the course of the training of clinical specialty degree graduate education and standardized training of residents (referred to as temporary residence), students are required to obtain four certificates in 3 years. Here, our department of Neurology reviewed residents who were trained by this training mode. Their ability of clinical neurological profession, clinical thinking and clinical research was with effective promotion through to one teaching method, the tutor-responsibility system, PBL teaching and literature-reading meeting. The objective is to get the best effect in 3 years, to explore a more suitable training mode for these residents and train high-level clinicians with applied and academic types. Key words: Clinical medicine; Clinical professional degree postgraduate training; Standardized residents training; Neurology

Editorial introductions

Current Opinion in Allergy and Clinical Immunology was launched in 2001. It is one of a successful series of review journals whose unique format is designed to provide a systematic and critical assessment of the literature as presented in the many primary journals. The fields of allergy and clinical immunology are divided into 14 sections that are reviewed once a year. Each section is assigned a Section Editor, a leading authority in the area, who identifies the most important topics at that time. Here we are pleased to introduce the Journal's Section Editors for this issue. SECTION EDITORS Stephen JollesStephen JollesStephen Jolles is Consultant Clinical Immunologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University Hospital for Wales and is Clinical Lead in the Immunodeficiency Centre for Wales. He trained in Immunology and Allergy at the Royal Free Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, the John Radcliffe in Oxford and Westmead Hospital in Sydney. His PhD in Cellular Immunology at NIMR, Mill Hill was on Langerhans cell migration and he has a particular interest in the use of immunoglobulin and its mechanism of action both in primary immunodeficiency and at high dose as an immunomodulator. His research interests involve clinical trials, the laboratory diagnosis and management of primary and secondary immunodeficiency and allergy involving the development of new diagnostic tools, screening for immunodeficiency, and the development of molecular testing for primary immunodeficiency diseases. Maite de la MorenaMaite de la Morena(M Teresa Maite) de la Morena is a Professor of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine at the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA. She graduated from medical school at the Complutense University, Madrid, Spain, in 1982. This was followed by postgraduate research training in Immunology, followed by Pediatric residency and Allergy & Immunology subspecialty training at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA. Dr. de la Morena is a clinician with over twenty years of experience in the diagnosis and care of patients with primary immunodeficiency disorders. In collaboration with basic scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center her current research interests include the discovery of novel genes associated in primary immunodeficiency syndromes, the role of microRNAs in primary immunodeficiency disorders, and longitudinal clinical outcomes of patients with immunodeficiency disorders such as the X-linked form of hyper IgM and chronic granulomatous disease. Giovanni PassalacquaGiovanni PassalacquaDr Giovanni Passalacqua was born in Genoa in 1964. He graduated in 1990 from the Genoa University Medical School, Italy, and received the full specialty degrees in allergy and in respiratory medicine in 1994 and 2002. Under the chairmanship of Professor Giorgio Walter Canonica, he contributed to investigations in the mechanisms of allergic inflammation, the treatment of respiratory allergy and developed sublingual immunotherapy. Currently he is Associate Professor of Respiratory Medicine, for which also chairs the Specialty School at the University of Genoa. Dr Passalacqua has coauthored more than 300 publications in peer reviewed journals. He serves on the board of experts of Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA), and is co-Chairman of the immunotherapy committee of the World Allergy Organization. Robert BushRobert BushDr Robert Bush received his MD degree from West Virginia University, USA. After completing his residency in internal medicine and fellowship in allergy and immunology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, USA, he joined the faculty. He is currently Professor (Emeritus) of Medicine and was the former Chief of Allergy at the William S Middleton VA Hospital, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. His research interests include sublingual immunotherapy, allergen characterization, fungal allergy, food allergy, and occupational asthma.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of General Dentists towards Sterilization of Endodontic Files: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Root canal treatment is performed with the help of various endodontic instruments which were often reused. These instruments have to be cleaned, disinfected and sterilized effectively. The present study was done to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice of the general dentists towards sterilization of endodontic files. Materials and Methods: Total 102 general dental practitioners including master's degree in various specialty of dentistry excluding endodontist were taken in the study. Specially prepared questionnaires consisting of 11 questions were used in the study. The results were tabulated and analyzed with the help of IBM SPSS statistics 20 using student's t test. Results: The general dental practitioners were having less knowledge, attitude and practice towards sterilization of the endodontic instruments as compared to that of the dental practitioners with master's degree and the difference was found to be statistically significant. (Student's t test). Conclusion: Many of the dental practitioners were not following the basic protocols of the sterilization. There is a need to increase the awareness of the sterilization of the endodontic instruments as it can be highly contagious.

User Acceptance of Picture Archiving and Communication System in the Emergency Department.

BackgroundPicture archiving and communication system (PACS) has allowed the medical images to be transmitted, stored, retrieved, and displayed in different locations of a hospital or health system. Using PACS in the emergency department will eventually result in improved efficiency and patient care. In spite of the abundant benefits of employing PACS, there are some challenges in implementing this technology like users’ resistance to accept the technology, which has a critical role in PACS success.ObjectivesIn this study, we will assess and compare user acceptance of PACS in the emergency departments of three different hospitals and investigate the effect of socio-demographic factors on this acceptance.Materials and MethodsA variant of technology acceptance model (TAM) has been used in order to measure the acceptance level of PACS in the emergency department of three educational hospitals in Iran. A previously used questionnaire was validated and utilized to collect the study data. A stepwise multiple regression model was used to predict factors influencing acceptance score as the dependent variable.ResultsMean age of participants was 32.9 years (standard deviation [SD] = 6.08). Participants with the specialty degree got a higher acceptance score than the three other groups (Mean ± SD = 4.17 ± 0.20). Age, gender, degree of PACS usage and participant’s occupation (profession) did not influence the acceptance score. In our multiple regression model, all three variables of perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEU) and the effect of PACS (change) had a significant effect in the prediction of acceptance. The most influencing factor was change with the beta of 0.22 (P value < 0.001).ConclusionPACS is highly accepted in all three emergency departments especially among specialists. PU, PEU and change are factors influencing PACS acceptance. Our study can be used as an evidence of PACS acceptance in emergency wards.

Toward long-term Health Among People With HIV

Antonio Antela speaks to Daphne Boulicault, Commissioning Editor: Antonio Antela obtained his medical degree in 1983 followed by a specialty degree in internal medicine in 1989, both at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). Between 1989 and 1991, he was a research fellow in infectious diseases at the Ramón y Cajal Hospital, in Madrid, Spain. In 1991, he worked as an attending physician in the HIV Unit of the Infectious Disease Department at the same institution, responsible for the management and follow-up of over 1500 HIV-infected patients. He subsequently obtained a PhD degree in 1999. He worked in the AIDS Program of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), in Washington, DC, USA, in 2003, and in the Fundación VIHDA AIDS Clinic in Maragua (Kenya), in 2004. In 2006, he joined the HIV and Infectious Diseases Department of the University Hospital of Santiago de Compostela, where he still carries out his clinical and research work in the infectious diseases and HIV fields.

Reform clinical skill training model to improve performance of objective structured clinical examination

Objective To improve the mode of clinical medicine postgraduates for specialty degree by OSCE. Methods Clinical medicine postgraduates for specialty degree of Grade 2010 and 2011 were enrolled as research objects. The OSCE scores of the students of Grade 2010 were analyzed and the problems in clinical skills training were summarized. In the last year of clinical training for the clinical medical students of Grade 2011, the reform of clinical skills training was implemented with such improvement measures as publishing last year achievement, analyzing OSCE assessment, strength-ening the supervision of the department of clinical skill training, strengthening the examination as-sessment efforts and organizing collective training. And finally the OSCE scores of the students of Grade 2011 were compared with the scores of the students of Grade 2010. SPSS 19.0 was used to analyze the OSCE scores. Quantitative data were expressed as ±s. T test and Chi-squared test were em-ployed to do statistical analysis, with the inspection level of α=0.05. Result The graduate exami-nation OSCE scores of clinical medicine professional master's degree postgraduates of Grade 2010 display that the failure rate of SP, Physical, Surgical Operation, CPR and Case analysis are more than 5%. After the improvement of clinical skill training, using independent samples t test and chi square test, and contrasting grade 2010, the failure rate of the OSCE score of Grade 2011 in physical examination, surgical operation, site emergency station, CPR station, and case analysis station is significantly improved (P<0.05). Conclusions Improving the mode of clinical skill training by OSCE and performance analysis can effectively enhance clinical competence. Key words: Objective structured clinical examination; Clinical skill evaluation; Graduation examination

Work environment issues and intention-to-leave in Portuguese nurses: A cross-sectional study

This study extends the Registered Nurses Forecasting (RN4CAST) study evidence base with newly collected data from Portuguese nurses working in acute care hospitals, in which the measurement of the quality of work environment, workload and its association with intention-to-leave emerge as of key importance. Data included surveys of 2235 nurses in 144 nursing units in 31 hospitals via stratified random sampling. Multilevel multivariate regression analysis shows that intention-to-leave is higher among nurses with a specialty degree, nurses aged 35–39, and in nursing units where nurses are less satisfied with opportunities for career advancement, staffing levels and participation in hospital affairs. Analysis with moderation effects showed the observed effect of age and of having a specialty degree on intention-to-leave during the regression analysis is reduced in nursing units where nurses are more satisfied with opportunities for career advancement. The most important finding from the study suggests that promoting retention strategies that increase satisfaction with opportunities for career advancement among Portuguese nurses has the potential to override individual characteristics associated with increased turnover intentions.

A history of undergraduate education for public health: from behind the scenes to center stage.

Education for Public Health traces its roots to the Welch–Rose report of 1915. The Welch–Rose report defined education for public health as applied graduate education primarily for professionals such as physicians, nurses, and engineers who needed academic education and the latest research to help them take on leadership roles in governmental public health (1). The graduate and research focus of academic public health dominated the landscape for the better part of the twentieth century. Yet behind the scenes, changes were occurring that have led in the twenty-first century to new approaches to undergraduate public health education. The Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) was founded in 1950. As was the practice of the era, membership required a graduate degree. A decade later, SOPHE began admitting members with an undergraduate degree and practice experience (2). Undergraduate programs supported by SOPHE have included community health and school health. The emergence of environmental health as a distinct field led to the development of environmental health programs at the bachelor’s degree level with a strong science emphasis. In 1967, the National Environmental Health Science & Protection Accreditation Council (EHAC) was established. East Tennessee State’s undergraduate environmental health program became the first accredited undergraduate program (3). When the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA) was founded in the late 1940s, graduate degree programs formed the basis of eligibility for membership. Undergraduate programs were gradually added. By the late part of the century, AUPHA was offering a certification process for undergraduate health administration programs (4). During the last half of the twentieth century, undergraduate programs in public health and related fields were developed that either did not qualify for membership in SOPHE, EHAC, or AUPHA, or chose not to pursue such membership. According to the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH), by 1992, there were 45 institutions that were offering one or more undergraduate degrees in a public health related field. By 2000, this number had risen to 76 (5). These early efforts to develop specialty degrees for undergraduates not only survived but have grown over the years. At the turn of the twenty-first century, they represented the major source of undergraduate education for public health.

Editorial introductions

Current Opinion in Allergy and Clinical Immunology was launched in 2001. It is one of a successful series of review journals whose unique format is designed to provide a systematic and critical assessment of the literature as presented in the many primary journals. The fields of allergy and clinical immunology are divided into 14 sections that are reviewed once a year. Each section is assigned a Section Editor, a leading authority in the area, who identifies the most important topics at that time. Here we are pleased to introduce the Journal's Section Editors for this issue. SECTION EDITORS Bruce D. MazerBruce D. MazerDr Bruce D. Mazer is a Professor of Pediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Canada. He completed his medical training at McGill University and the Montreal Children's Hospital, Canada, and was a fellow in allergy and immunology at the National Jewish Health center in Denver CO, USA. Dr Mazer is currently the Division Head of Allergy and Immunology and the Associate Chair for Research at the McGill University Health Center-Montréal Children's Hospital. He is also Chair of the Research Council at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center. He has a busy clinical practice following children with immune deficiency, severe asthma and food allergies. His research interests include regulation of IgE, B-lymphocyte development in airway tissues, and immune regulation in asthma and food allergy. He is funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, The National Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada, Les Fonds Des Recherches du Quebec en Sante and the National Center of Excellence-ALLERGEN program. Ramsay L. FuleihanRamsay L. FuleihanRamsay L. Fuleihan, MD, is Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, USA, and Attending Physician at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Illinois, USA, where he is also Director of Primary Immunodeficiency Clinical Services and Director of the Jeffrey Modell Foundation Diagnostic Center for Primary Immunodeficiencies. In addition, Dr Fuleihan is Associate Director of the Allergy and Clinical Immunology Training Program at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr Fuleihan received his medical degree at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, completed his pediatric residency at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, USA and an allergy and immunology fellowship at the Children's Hospital Boston at Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts, USA. A diplomate of the American Board of Allergy and Immunology, Dr Fuleihan is a member of several professional societies, including the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the European Society for Immunodeficiencies, the Clinical Immunology Society, and the Society for Pediatric Research. He is a member of the steering committee of the US Immunodeficiency Network and a member of the Medical Advisory Committee of the Immune Deficiency Foundation. Giovanni PassalacquaGiovanni PassalacquaDr Passalacqua was born in Genoa in 1964. He graduated in 1990 from the Genoa University Medical School, Italy, and received the full specialty degrees in allergy and in respiratory medicine in 1994 and 2002. Under the chairmanship of Prof. Giorgio Walter Canonica, he contributed to investigations in the mechanisms of allergic inflammation, the treatment of respiratory allergy and developed sublingual immunotherapy. Currently he is Associate Professor of Respiratory Medicine, for which also chairs the Specialty School at the University of Genoa. Dr Passalacqua has coauthored more than 300 publications in peer reviewed journals. He serves on the board of experts of Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA), and is co-Chairman of the immunotherapy committee of the World Allergy Organization. Robert BushRobert BushDr Robert Bush received his MD degree from West Virginia University, USA. After completing his residency in internal medicine and fellowship in allergy and immunology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, USA, he joined the faculty. He is currently Professor (Emeritus) of Medicine and was the former Chief of Allergy at the William S Middleton VA Hospital, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. His research interests include sublingual immunotherapy, allergen characterization, fungal allergy, food allergy, and occupational asthma.

Counting Economics Phds: How Many New Graduates Do U.S. Universities Produce?1

This is the first paper that seeks to reconcile the large and persistent differences across data sources in the number of new economics PhDs that U.S. universities produce. During 1997–2006, the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) reported 11,524 such degrees in all specialties, compared to 10,812 degrees by the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and 8,862 dissertations listed in the Journal of Economic Literature (JEL). The comparable estimates in general economics (GE) were 9,504, 8,534, and 7,856, respectively. Such differences can lead to problematic assessments of the balance between supply and demand in the market for new PhDs. The study finds that the SED picks up the most new economics PhDs, but it also attracts an unknown number of graduates of business schools and interdisciplinary programs. IPEDS has the most detailed classification framework of specialty degrees, but undercounts graduates of larger GE programs and misclassifies some GE programs. The JEL's annual lists provide useful information on the content of doctoral research, but suffer from serious under-reporting by economics departments. After adjusting counts, the study estimates that about 9,100 GE degrees were conferred during the survey decade. The paper offers a rule of thumb for estimating adjusted counts in future years. An epilog finds that other social science disciplines have problems counting new doctoral dissertations and making lists of them accessible to researchers.

Editorial introductions

Current Opinion in Allergy and Clinical Immunology was launched in 2001. It is one of a successful series of review journals whose unique format is designed to provide a systematic and critical assessment of the literature as presented in the many primary journals. The fields of allergy and clinical immunology are divided into 14 sections that are reviewed once a year. Each section is assigned a Section Editor, a leading authority in the area, who identifies the most important topics at that time. Here we are pleased to introduce the Journal's Section Editors for this issue. SECTION EDITORS Bruce D. MazerBruce D. MazerDr Bruce Mazer is a Professor of Pediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Canada. He completed his medical training at McGill University and the Montreal Children's Hospital, Canada, and was a fellow in allergy and immunology at the National Jewish Health Center in Denver CO, USA. Dr Mazer is currently the Division Head of Allergy and Immunology and the Associate Chair for Research at the McGill University Health Center-Montréal Children's Hospital. He is also Chair of the Research Council at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center. He has a busy clinical practice following children with Immune Deficiency, severe asthma and food allergies. His research interests include regulation of IgE, B-lymphocyte development in Airway tissues, and immune regulation in asthma and food allergy. He is funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, The National Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada, Les Fonds Des Recherech du Quebec en Sante and the National Center of Excellence -ALLERGEN program. Ramsay L. FuleihanRamsay L. FuleihanRamsay L. Fuleihan, MD, is Associate Professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, USA and Attending Physician at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Illinois, USA, where he is also Director of Primary Immunodeficiency Clinical Services and Director of the Jeffrey Modell Foundation Diagnostic Center for Primary Immunodeficiencies. In addition, Dr Fuleihan is Associate Director of the Allergy and Clinical Immunology Training Program at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, USA. Dr Fuleihan received his medical degree at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. He then trained in pediatrics at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, USA and in allergy and immunology at the Children's Hospital Boston at Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts, USA. A Diplomate of the American Board of Allergy and Immunology, Dr Fuleihan is a member of several professional societies, including the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the European Society for Immunodeficiencies, the Clinical Immunology Society, and the Society for Pediatric Research. He is a member of the steering committee of the US Immunodeficiency Network and a member of the Medical Advisory Committee of the Immune Deficiency Foundation. Giovanni PassalacquaGiovanni PassalacquaDr Passalacqua was born in Genoa in 1964. He graduated in 1990 from the Genoa University Medical School, Italy, and received the full specialty degrees in Allergy and in Respiratory Medicine in 1994 and 2002. Under the chairmanship of Prof. Giorgio Walter Canonica, he contributed to investigations in the mechanisms of allergic inflammation, the treatment of respiratory allergy and developed sublingual immunotherapy. Currently he is Associate Professor of Respiratory Medicine, for which he also chairs the Specialty School at the University of Genoa. Dr Passalacqua has coauthored more than 300 publications in peer reviewed journals. He serves on the board of experts of Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA), and is co-Chairman of the immunotherapy committee of the World Allergy Organization. Robert BushRobert BushDr Robert Bush received his MD degree from West Virginia University, USA. After completing his residency in internal medicine and fellowship in allergy and immunology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, USA, he joined the faculty. He is currently Professor (Emeritus) of Medicine and was the former Chief of Allergy at the William S Middleton VA Hospital, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. His research interests include sublingual immunotherapy, allergen characterization, fungal allergy, food allergy, and occupational asthma.

Issues and dilemmas in career planning of medical students in Surat, India

Background: In recent time issues of career choices in medical student has been gaining mounting attention. Aim: The current study was planned with an aim to understand issues and dilemmas in career planning of medical students in Surat city, India Methods: This is a cross-sectional study comprising of personal interviews using a self -designed structured questionnaire among 400 simple randomly selected medical students, interns and junior residents of Surat Municipal Institute of Medical Education and Research covering issues associated with their career concerns and future life. Data analysis was done with help of Epi Info 7. The study sample comprised of students 46.5%, intern doctors 36%, junior resident doctors 17.5%. Results:Females were more content with either a graduate or a post graduate degree, whereas males were more inclined towards pursuing super specialty degrees (P&lt;0.001). Majority 62% of the respondent stated that given another chance, they would again like to choose for medical studies only. The percentages of females interested in a non clinical career abroad as compared to clinical career in India were lower. Majority 89% of respondents agree that there is more struggle for the students who enter M.B.B.S. from a non medical background. Percentages of males in favor of increasing the postgraduate/super specialty seats far exceeded females (P&lt;0.0001). The vast majority of the respondents wanted the specialty and super specialty seats to increase as they wanted an equal ratio of Undergraduate: Postgraduate seats (70%). Those who did not favor the increase in the seats perceived that the quality of treatment may actually worsen rather than improve if the number of seats increased (60%). Conclusion: Freshly graduating doctors do face a severe dilemma regarding their future career after graduation, which is a very perplexing situation for them and their parents, as there is absence of any career guidance cell; absence of the culture and avenues of campus placement; and there is human need to be materialistically comparable to their counterparts who are already in a job as an engineer. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjms.v12i4.13336 Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol. 12 No. 04 October ’13 Page 385-391

Role of micro-neurosurgery training in the cultivation of specialty degree neurosurgery post-graduates

Taking microneurosurgery approach and applied surgical anatomy training as the core and combining theoretical teaching and perioperative training as the main contents, training program achieved significant effect among specialty degree neurosurgery postgraduates. In order to further improve the quality of training, it is proposed to set up micro-neurosurgery training center and more complete train- ing system based on micro-neurosurgery contents thus to improve clinical ability of specialty degree neuro- surgery postgraduates. Key words: Specialty d~gree neurosurgery postgraduates; Micro-neurosurgery; Skill training

대학생을 대상으로 한 커피 등급에 따른 관능평가

This study aims to understand college students customer's preference and the difference of coffee grade by comparing the result of Q-grader, who was trained professionally and received certification for a sensory evaluation of coffee grade. The results of the chemical analysis of raw coffee and coffee berry show that those of specialty grade had slightly higher, but not significant, water content. Further, the pH of specialty grade coffee was high in coffee beans and after roasting, the commercial grade became high. There was no significant difference between the specialty degree and commercial degree in color before and after roasting. In this study, the panels for the sensory evaluation included 24 university students. The preference of evaluation items of sensory evaluation consist of aroma, acidity, bitterness, astringency, aftertaste, and overall satisfaction. Items for the strength evaluation consist of aroma, acidity and bitterness. The sensory evaluation was expressed by applying a 5 point Likert scale (1: extremely low~5: extremely high). In the sensory evaluation, it was evaluated that specialty grade coffee had strong acidity and commercial grade coffee was strongly bitter. The result of the sensory evaluation shows that female students are sensitive to coffee taste. In the analysis of frequent visit to coffee shop, the not-frequently-use-group rated that specialty grade coffee with higher overall satisfaction than commercial grade coffee in factors such as aroma and acidity. The group which did not prefer Americano coffee rated that specialty grade was higher than commercial grade in all factors except aroma, of which the result is similar to the cupping test.